The star today is Nexa Rust, bringing a diverse portfolio from its extended family of carefully crafted fonts: Sans Black, Slab Black Shadow, Script, Handmade and Extras. The added appeal of this offer is that all the included typefaces can be used without restrictions in personal, as well as in any commercial projects.

We all have moments in our lives when we could use an encouraging push in the right direction. Or a reminder that tomorrow is worth fighting for. Or that creativity is just around the corner and it’s waiting for us. Or…

No matter what it gets us going forward, there’s a high chance we could all relate to at least one of the 20 motivational quotes gathered in this wonderful collection.

If you’re in a hurry to come up with a good looking infographic composition and don’t have the time to tweak all the elements on your own, you may be in luck as the team from Vector Open Stock has offered an exclusive freebie package for Hogkiat.com

The elements seem targeted for layouts involving the population’s distribution and preferences, work, budget allocation, project stages, choices, shopping, fashion, and transportation means. But, of course, you can put the graphics to great use in any other suitable scenario.

We’re getting closer and closer to another year’s end and as always that’s a good time to reflect on milestones, key moments and where we’re going.

That’s also a good opportunity to see how much things have changed in a given amount of time.

Let’s think a bit about the Internet, that we all take for granted these days. If you’re curious to see the speed of change in our modern society, then please head over to the thought-provoking report prepared by WebpageFX.

You get the chance to discover through infographics, like the one above, when was the very first email sent and how many are sent nowadays, when was the first domain name registered and how many are already live now, or when was uploaded online the first photo and how many are currently transfered through the huge world wide web.

All these and many other exciting Internet-related facts, and the stories behind them, are now just a click away. 🙂

Although there are many differences between these two, people often confuse them for one another or at least place them in the same “basket”. But are they really that similar or do they even share common goals?

Let’s start by looking at Merriam-Webster’s definitions:

Art– something that is created with imagination and skill and that is beautiful or that expresses important ideas or feelings; the methods and skills used for painting, sculpting, drawing, etc.

Design– the way something has been made: the way the parts of something (such as a building, machine, book, etc.) are formed and arranged for a particular use, effect, etc.; a drawing of something that is being planned or created.

Just by reading these descriptions alone we can already see a few clear distinctions. On one hand, art has no rules or boundaries, it’s emotional, it aims to inspire reflection and raise questions. On the other hand, design follows rules and proven structures to communicate in an effective way, it’s rational and it aims to answer questions.

Taking the comparison further, it’s obvious that art’s core function is to impress and determine an inner response, or at least set the stage for interpretation. But design’s main purpose is to plan, organise and make the information accessible, to a determined audience, so that the message can be clearly understood.

Essentially, I believe an artist is a cultural ambassador and a thought provoker, while a designer is a translator and a problem solver.

It looks like art and design can’t be considered quite twin brothers, but they certainly aren’t strangers either. 🙂

Disclaimer: this post has nothing to do with E. L. James’ trilogy.Except for the title’s similar play of words. 🙂

It all started after stumbling upon a useful material published by, writer and illustrator, Ingrid Sundberg. Why is that article useful? Firstly because, as its author noted, it can be put into service as a reference to “paint a more evocative image in my reader’s mind” when describing different colours. Secondly, the nuances’ descriptive names can prove to be handy when interacting with customers, for designers, illustrators, writers, hair stylists and anyone else who loves and works with colours.

Besides the grey shades included here, if you decide to head out to the above-mentioned article, you’ll also encounter 20 shades of white, tan, yellow, orange, red, pink, purple, blue, green, brown and black.

The only downside of the story is that there aren’t yet included any corresponding RGB or HEX values. But Ingrid mentioned she’s working with a designer to offer those soon.

If you’re looking for a precise colour chart that offers for each of its colour samples, organised in alphabetical order, the RGB, HEX, luminance and HSL values, then please have a look here, to check the great work done by the people from WorkWithColor.

Dry eyes, headaches, eye strain or general ocular discomfort. All these symptoms are rather “popular” these days. Why? Because of the ever increasing staring sessions at screens of all kinds: monitors, laptops, tablets, smartphones etc. We are surrounded by them. And it seems that our eyes have not been made for the kind of pressure we are putting on them.

The good news is that eyeglasses are not always the solution to blurry vision. Sometimes all that it takes is to remember to take regular breaks and look in the distance for a while and/or adjust your monitor’s brightness and colour settings.

I also recommend reading this very useful article, to learn about 9 free apps that can put you on the right path to be a healthier technology user.

Have you been affected by vision problems? I know I have. So let’s take better care of our eyes, so they can keep on showing us all the wonderful colours of the world in sharp details.